August 20, 2016 -- Steve Torrence missed history, made history and succumbed to history Saturday at Brainerd International Raceway where his bid for a victory in the postponed final round of the Protect the Harvest.com Nationals evaporated in a puff of tire smoke.

After a lengthy rain delay, Torrence’s Capco Contractors/Rio Ammunition dragster inexplicably lost traction at half-track and slowed to 4.062 seconds while Mello Yello point leader Antron Brown streaked away to win in 3.747 seconds to bring a belated end to an event that began two weeks ago in Seattle, Wash.

Torrence and Brown now will focus on the 35th annual Lucas Oil Nationals which will be contested Sunday on the same track. Brown will start from the No. 1 qualifying position after stopping the timers in 3.679 seconds.

As for Torrence, despite a 1,000 foot time of 3.699 seconds and a finish line speed of 329.83 miles per hour, he qualified only fifth and became the first driver in history to break the 3.70 second barrier and NOT earn at least one qualifying bonus point. In the Seattle race, he became the first to break that barrier and not earn the lane choice option.

“Those aren’t the records we were looking for,” he said. “All we can do is put it behind us and go out and win tomorrow.”

The 33-year-old Texan had hoped to become one of only a handful of drivers to win two races in a single weekend. Now, after losing to Brown for the 19th time in 20 career meetings, he will renew his bid to overtake Doug Kalitta for second place in regular season points.

He will trail Kalitta by just over one racing round when he rolls his car to the starting line Sunday for a first round match with veteran Terry McMillen.